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Looking for someone to partner with....

I am looking for someone to work with to get one (or more) internet businesses off the ground. I know how to do the backend stuff, i.e. accounting (I'm a degreed accountant, with my MBA), customer service, vendor relations, that kind of stuff. I like doing that and I'm good at it. What I'm not good at is the marketing stuff. And I have learned the hard way that you can't have one without the other. I have had several internet enterprises in the past so I have experience with this. I need someone(s) to compliment what I lack. Looking more for expertise than money.

Let me know if you might be interested in pursuing this. I'll answer any questions that might arise. I'm dead serious about this but our personalities have to match or else what's the point? Thinkin' 50/50 split on profits. You can email me at rwhowerton@gmail.com.

10 Responses

What type of online business are you referring to? It sounds like you are talking about general Marketing and not SEO specific. Do you have an online product already and just want to get it to where it competes?

You are correct, not specifically SEO, but that certainly part of the marketing plan. I have sold instructional videos for pool & billiards, as an example. I did very well with it initailly, but started sinking because of lack of marketing on my part. That is not what I do well. I am very willing to pick it back up because I think there is still a market for it. I have other ideas/opportunities as well that I'm willing to share with a willing individual. I do have another online business that is suffering, as well.

Roger, This is a reasonable approach if not the best forum. Hopefully I can lend a small bit of clarity for you.

One thing that we always tell clients who come to us who say, "I have a great idea to make money on the Internet, can you show me how?" is this: If you have a business model that works, we can show you how to market that; if you have a business model that does not work, marketing won't help."

So, you need to realize that it may or may not work with marketing. Also, being it is Internet based, isn't the marketing the lion's share of the work? (Sometimes its not).

So, I hope this helps you a bit in dealing with those who might want to go down the road. Partnerships are tough to begin with.

Marketing the lion's share of work? Maybe on the front end, but running a business involves more than setting up a website and advertising. There is the customer contact, shipping and billing, inventory management, vendor relations, bookkeeping, etc, etc. You can have the most brilliant internet business marketing plan ever and, as an example, if you forget about emailing your customers about when their product is going to arrive (or worse, don't mail it at all), you will fail. If you don't keep your books in order, how will you know what is working and what isn't. Catch my drift?

Partnerships are tough, I agree. Worse than marriage. But if you have the right chemistry, ala marriage, it can be bliss.

Robert, this was really a shot in the dark. I have no expectations as to what will result. If the forum is interest, I can relay what I dscover.

Just remember, if it is an Internet (online) business and that model is no good, the marketing will be the only work to speak of. A business needs one thing to be successful, customers. The marketing will bring them if it is a good product/service that is in demand. Yes the backend is important. There just isn't any without the marketing in an online business unless it is exceptionally rare. (I've never seen it).

This is a tough thing to accomplish. Look at it from the SEO/Marketer's perspective. I would have to really, really trust you and believe that your idea was going to be big before I put my time and effort and money into promoting it.

In most cases, if you are a good SEO, then you're going to take a job that has a guaranteed paycheck rather than a good idea with potential. And if an idea is THAT good, and I know I can market it well, then I'm likely going to just do it myself.

The other issue is tracking profits. If I join with you, how can I know that you are truly paying me 50% of the profits?

It's a tough sell!

EDITED to add: This thread reminds me of shows like "Dragon's den" and "Shark Tank" where people look for investors. The investors always want to see that you have a product that is doing well..and then they can help you make it even better. In your situation, you could consider building your product and seeing how well you do, and then, once you see that you have a product that people are buying, then look for a marketing partner. You may be better able to find a willing marketer when there is an actual money making product on the table.

Trust is the key ingredient here. Before I would go into any business, nevermind an internet business, I would have to trust that person completely. Hence, the chemistry has to be right. As was indicated in an earlier post, partnerships are tough. But they do work and so will this one if all parties come to the table with clear and defined expectations. If you can do it yourself (or if I could do it myself), I would have. It takes a certain skill set to do internet marketing correctly as it does on the backend. Can one person do it all? Certainly. But I'm looking for that marketing/SEO person that loves that side of the business, but falls down or dislikes the administrative side of it. That is who I'm looking for.

And I don't know if I'd say all ideas are bad or good. Anyone can take a good idea and make it bad (raises hand). Can you take a good idea and make it better? That is a better question. Or take a good idea and keep it from going bad?

How do you know if I'll pay you 50% of the profits? Because of my word. And all that legal stuff we'll have between us, too ; )

It is a lot to ask for, but as my momma use to tell me, don't know unless you ask.

This sounds like the "You make it rain and I'll give you half of the water!" story.

Kidding aside.....

I don't think that the 50/50 split is reasonable. Things don't work out that way - ever. Somebody is going to get screwed because the labor will not be 50/50. Maybe the SEO will have less work in the long run? Maybe not.

So, I'd suggest getting a loan, selling your boat, or doing whatever is needed to own and control. It probably isn't a good idea to hand over 50% of your biz to an SEO and the ones who will jump at such a deal might not be the ones who can win one of just ten positions on the first page of google with 200,000,000 competing.

Glad you like it. You can use it freely and without attribution. Hope you get some laughs and puzzled looks when using it.

In this type of situation, I would go with dropship. That way my risks are limited to website building, SEO and marketing. I have owned websites with dropshippers responding to sales for a long time. We agree upon a revenue split (on the merchandise portion of the sale - they get all postage charged) and at the end of each month they bill me for my share.

This has worked great. However, sometimes you have a dropshipper who is not responding to sales in a timely manner or making lots of errors. In that situation, you can simply find another dropshipper or redirect those pages to another location.

But, the SEO/webmaster/marketer should always own the website. IMO.

BTW.... the split that I have received has been 40% to 50% of retail - not profits (but I bear all credit card, security, hosting, analytics, and other costs of running the site - including a lot of labor). This works well if your dropshipper is the publisher or manufacturer. If the dropshipper is a retailer paying a distributor then there are too many middlemen for the dropshipper to make good money - and pay you 40-50%.

To get this business, get a website ranking for all of the unbranded terms for their product then call them on phone and say... "I can sell a lot of your stuff. Check my google rankings for this keyword and that keyword." When they are surprised just say..... "I'll make it rain for you and all you gotta do is give me half of the water." And that gets the deal.

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